A blog on the current crises in the Middle East and news accounts unpublished by the US press. Daily timeline of events in Iraq as collected from stories and dispatches in the French and Italian media: Le Monde (Paris), Il Corriere della Sera (Milan), La Repubblica (Rome), L'Orient-Le Jour (Beirut) and occasionally from El Mundo (Madrid).

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

1 September 2004 Events in Iraq

00.35 Paris. MICHEL BARNIER: "I STILL HAVE HOPE". French FM Michel Barnier believes there will be a positive ending to the French hostage crisis.

23.05 Fallujah. UPDATED DEATH TOLL: NINE. Nine Iraqis killed and six wounded in the most recent US airstrike on the town.

22.45 Baghdad. HOSTAGES: SEVEN RELEASED, TWO TAKEN, NO NEWS CONCERNING FRENCH. Three Indians, three Kenyans, one Egyptian and one Turk were released while a Jordanian and an Iraqi were abducted. No news concerning French hostages.

22.15 Fallujah. US AIRSTRIKE KILLS 3.

22.03 Rome. KIDNAPPED IRAQI DOES NOT HAVE ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP. Ajad Anwar Wali, a wealthy businessman kidnapped yesterday in Baghdad, does not have Italian citizenship and therefore would not possess an Italian passport. Wali requested Italian citizenship in 2003 but it has not been granted.

22.00 Rome. KIDNAPPED IRAQI WAS ON PHONE WITH BROTHER WHEN KIDNAPPED. Emad Wali, brother of the Ajad Anwar Wali, was on the phone with his brother when he was kidnapped.

21.32 Paris. FRENCH HOSTAGES: DEADLINE PASSES. Kidnappers had demanded that headscarf law in France be rescinded.

21.20 Rome. KIDNAPPED IRAQI WAS RESIDENT OF VENICE REGION. Ajad Anwar Ali, 48 was a resident of the town of Villa del Conte in the Province of Padua.

20.25 Mossul. PIPELINE ON FIRE. The Kirkuk to Ceyhan pipeline is ablaze near Hadar, west of Mossul.

19.30 Paris. HOSTAGES: FRANCE ASSIGNS BEST INTELLIGENCE AGENT. General Philippe Rondot, who chased down international terrorist Carlos in Sudan in 1994, has been dispatched to Baghdad. Gen. Rondot, 63, is intelligence advisor to French Defense Minister Mrs. Michele Alliot-Marie and is known to have connections among Arab intelligence agencies.

19.00 Kirkuk. MORTAR SALVO WOUNDS WOMAN AND CHILD. A woman and a child, both Kurdish, were gravely wounded in a mortar salvo directed at the Felak Refugee Camp outside Kirkuk.

18.00 Baghdad. IRAQ, NEW SPEAKER OF ASSEMBLY WILL BE KURDISH. Fuad Masum will be the Speaker of the caretaker National Assembly. Masum, member of the PUK, was elected by a majority of the delegates. However, the Turkman delegation had opposed his election and insisted on their own candidate.

17.35 Katmandu. NEPAL, EGYPTIAN EMBASSY ATTACKED: ONE DEAD AND THREE WOUNDED. Nepalese police opened fire on a crowd intent on attacking the Egyptian Embassy. Embassy guards killed on person and wounded three others to break up the crowd.

17.05 Damascus. SYRIAN REPORTERS STAGE SIT-IN IN DAMASCUS. Syrian reporters staged a sit-in in front of the French in support of the kidnapped French Journalists

16.45 Baghdad. CHARGES AGAINST CHALABI DROPPED - An Iraqi judge threw out charges against Chalabi for counterfeiting and money laundering.

15.20 Rome. ITALIAN NEWS SHOW DIRECTOR APOLOGIZES. The director of the Tg4 newscasting, Emilio Fede, apologies to the public for broadcasting the execution of the 12 Nepalese hostages.

14.45 Baghdad. "KIDNAPPERS AWAIT INSTRUCTION FROM BIN LADEN" - According to a message from the Islamic Army in Iraq, the group will ask Osama Bin Laden to issue a fatwah determining the fate of the French reporters.

13.42 Teheran. MUJAHIDIN PLEAD FOR RELEASE OF HOSTAGES. The leader of the Iranian People's Mudjahidin, Maryam Radjavi, please for release of French hostages in the name of Islam, mercy, peace and humanity.

13.22 Baghdad. WEALTHY BUSINESSMAN WITH ITALIAN PASSPORT KIDNAPPED ITALIANO. A wealthy Iraqi businessman carrying an Italian passport has been kidnapped yesterday afternoon in Baghdad. The businessman was at home in the company of a Turkish colleague when he was abducted.

12.55 Baghdad. JORDANIAN KIDNAPPED, $120 thousand ransom is asked. Alaa Haswa tranvelled to Iraq on 20 August and was kidnapped on the 27th. His family received a phone call demanding a ransom.

12.50 Paris. FRENCH GOVERNMENT SAYS THERE ARE NO NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN HOSTAGE CRISIS.

12.46 Dubai. AL ARABIYA: SEVEN HOSTAGES RELEASED. Seven employees of a Kuwaiti company who were kidnapped on 21 July were released today.

12.37 Paris. CHIRAC: "WE WILL CONTINUE TO DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE". French President Jacques Chirac says France will to everything possible to secure release of hostages.

12.18 Kirkuk. PIPELINE FIRE RAGES. The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline is ablaze near Hadar, west of Mosul.

12.12 Doha. FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER EXPECTED IN QATAR. Michel Barnier is to arrive in Doha in an attempt to gain the release of kidnapped French reporters.

11.54 Paris. ARAB LEAGUE SAYS DEADLINE IS TONIGHT AT 9:00 PM: The ambassador of the Arab League to Paris, Nassif Hitti, confirms hostage deadline is tonight.

11.40 Baghdad. MORTAR BARRAGE. ONE DEAD AND TWENTY WOUNDED. An Iraqi citizen is dead and 12 others wounded in a mortar attack on the Provicial Governor's House in Nineveh.

11.21 Vatican City. POPE APPEALS FOR RELEASE OF HOSTAGES. John Paul II pleads for the release of all hostages in Iraq.

11.05 Baghdad. FRANCE: ARSON ATTEMPT ON MOSQUE IN HAUTE SAVOIE. A fire was started in a mosque in Annemasse but did not cause damage.

10.55 Baghdad. IRAQ, TURKISH HOSTAGE RELEASED. A truck driver kidnapped on 7 August was released today.

10.11 Baghdad. NEW EXPLOSIONS NEAR ASSEMBLY SITE. A new wave of explosions was heard near national assembly site in Baghdad.

09.15 Baghdad. BLASTS CAUSED BY MORTAR ROUND: ONE PERSON IS WOUNDED: The blasts in the Green Zone were caused by mortar rounds. One person was wounded as the Iraqi National Assembly took the oath of office.

08.19 Baghdad. FIVE BLASTS IN GREEN ZONE. Five blasts were heard this morning in Baghdad near the location of the Iraqi National Assembly.

07.30 Baghad. CHALABI'S CONVOY ATTACKED: IRAQI POLITICIAN IS UNHARMED. A group of six armed men attacked the convoy of Ahmad Chalabi.

07.00 Katmandu. MOSQUE SET AFIRE IN REPRISAL FOR EXECUTION OF 12 NEPALESE WORKERS IN IRAQ. The Jama Masjid Mosque was looted and burned down by an angry crowd in Katmandu. The mosque is only 300 meters Narayanhity Palace

06.45 Paris. FRENCH HOSTAGES, NO NEWS DURING THE NIGHT. Anguish for France and for the family of Christian Chesnot and Geroges Malbrunot.